Strike details for the 28th January

Hello peeps

No reason for the picture, except that it's a lovely day and pictures of strikes are a bit dull, so this is a statue called "The Meeting Place" on St Pancras Station. Nice...

On to business.

Here are the details of the upcoming fare strike. The point is not necessarily to try and dodge your fare, but to bring the company's attention to the number of us who are unhappy with the service, so please take part even if, like me, you're already a season ticket holder. Details follow from More Train Less Strain, who are the organisers:

"The stations known to be partcipating are Yate, Yatton, Bath, Oldfield Park, Frome, Oxford and Bristol. Other stations may also partcipate so be prepared to pick up a strike ticket wherever you are.

At each of those stations you can expect to be given a fare strike ticket and explanatory leaflet between around 7:15 and 8:30 am.The leaflet says as follows:

FARE STRIKE DAY 28 01 2008.

Our aim is to demonstrate to First Great Western that their passengers will not tolerate their expensive and unreliable service any more, and that the government must take back the franchise from FGW. To do this you can

1. Show your FARE STRIKE ticket to staff on the train and at the barriers instead of your proper ticket. (It is your decision whether or not you have a proper ticket and you could be breaking the law if you travel without one!)

2. Avoid confrontations with staff, they are on our side!

3. TV and press will be at many stations on the FGW network. Tell them what you think.

4. Send a FARE STRIKE ticket to your local MP and local paper and tell them that the time has come for FGW to go. Email the CEO of FGW and tell him what you think: andrew.haines@firstgroup.com

http://www.moretrainlessstrain.co.uk/

HOW DO THE TICKETS WORK?

They look similar in design to a standard ticket. If the barriers to the patform are open we suggest you show this ticket rather than a valid ticket to gain entry to the platform. Once on the platform, we suggest that you show your strike ticket when requested to show a ticket by staff on the train or at the exit barriers.It is up to you whether you travel with a valid ticket in your back pocket. The law states that you should have a valid ticket. It is not our intention to defraud FGW even though some might consider they are generating unreasonable profits from us. Our aim is to generate publicty to highlight at a local and national level the failure of FGW to provide an affordable and dependable service. We anticipate that this in turn will make it harder for the Department of Transport to continue to turn a blind eye to the collapse of FGW's franchise.

WHAT DO WE WANT?

There is no party line. That depends on your politics. Some would say take the franchise back into public ownership, others would say hand it to a company who really can run a train service. Whatever you believe it is important that you make your views known to the media who will be out in force on the 28th and to your local MP.Whatever you do, please be polite and respectful of FGW 's long suffering staff.

Regards,The More Train Less Strain Team."

We can strike too!

As if by magic, my question from the last post has been answered. This comment from Tony at More Train Less Strain was received:

"If anyone from Reading or Maidenhead would like to help to co-ordiante a fare strike on the 28th January we want to hear from you.

Email: tambrose31@yahoo.co.uk and join the 6 fare strikes curently planned."

So, what are you waiting for? Join the strike and make your feelings known.

Even if the drivers and guards don't go ahead with their strike action, we can, and we have lots to complain about.

Also, an interesting discussion on overcrowding is taking place on the Insider's blog In Defence of First Great Western. Go and have a look. He explains it all in a clear and understandable way, but my question is: why is the system in such a mess that First Great Western hasn't got enough carriages (ie: why is no-one making any new ones?), and why does it have to run and ask the government every time it wants more? Why isn't it in control of its own trains? It's a rum old world I tells thee.

Calling all cattle: do you use Twyford?

An appeal, from some TV programme-makers, who want to investigate the cattle-truck-like conditions faced by commuters:

Do you use Twyford station during the morning rush hour, either as a resident, changing from Henley, or on the long haul from Oxford to Paddington, or any of the stations in-between?

If so, they, and I, want to hear from you.

If you'd like to be involved in making a point about the crushed conditions faced by the daily London commuter, please get in touch with either me (ihatefgw@yahoo.co.uk) or the programme's producer (rakhee.hindocha@northonetv.com) who can provide you with more details of what will be involved, when you get in touch.

Please join in, it's a really good opportunity to make your grievances heard, and you'll get to be on TV as well, as an added bonus.

Moooooo!

Save Ashchurch train services

Look at this for a picturesque village church. Doesn't it look like the sort of place you might want to visit sometime?

This Gloucestershire village, near Tewkesbury, is served by the brilliantly named station "Ashchurch for Tewkesbury", once a railway centre of some importance, according to Wikipedia.

These days, its services are under threat, which is a shame. And that's where you come in.

Please help the lovely people of this countryside parish to keep their train services, by signing this petition. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ashchurchtrains/

The deadline is the 22nd of November, so put your name down now.

Friday night is fright night

Hello all

Proper news about the new December timetable and a request for your views on it coming soon, so watch this space.

But as the leaves begin to fall, and a chill begins to bother the back of my neck as I wait at the station, my thoughts turn inevitably to Halloween, and all things horrible.

A-ha, you think I'm going to say my thoughts turn to First Great Western, don't you? Well, no, in fact, I'm talking once again about the horror of passengers behaving badly.

My increasingly more frequent chats with FGW employees has uncovered the fact that, while we have good reason to be frustrated, we may sometimes not behave in a manner becoming upstanding commuter-types.

One employee reports that he has been spat at, and I myself have observed the pack-like instincts of the drunken commuter faced with a cancelled service late at night, something which resembles the behaviour and sound of hyenas. Our friend the Insider has also reported that staff are unwilling to say which platform a train is expected to arrive at because there are some travellers who do not care who they push and shove in order to be first on the train and first to a seat.

Now, we all know the reason for our frustrations - delays and cancellations. Nothing new there.

But, we should expect to be judged by the way we behave, and if, as I have heard, train managers sometimes decide not to come out of their rooms at all during some services, then that's a worry.

On a lighter note, I'd like to ask for some views on visual protests. The badges provided by this blog are clearly a marvellous opportunity to make our feelings known. But they're very small, and staff usually don't see them at all.

So, should I happen to be organising some kind of visual event (let's just say for the purposes of argument that I might be, but I might not) what should it be - flags, t-shirts, hats?

I'm thinking of something along the lines of the Flash Mob trend, which started a few years ago, and involves lots of people turning up to the same place at a time agreed at the last minute, all demonstrating, or acting in a certain way, then going away again. Not very well explained, but here's a website which might help: http://www.geocities.com/londonmobs/.

I'd like to something amusing, very visual and which will give the message that travelling by FGW is a real pain in the bum - perhaps we could all wear giant prosthetic bums?

As you can see, I do really need your help, so, since I know you all have plenty of time staring into space, or the next person's neck, on the way home, get your thinking caps on and come up with some ideas.

The McDemo photo

So, here it is, Mark Thomas and one of his McDemo colleagues hating First Great Western on our behalf. They certainly don't look very happy, but that might be because they had a total of 181 demos to do that day, and I think this was the first.

Still no cheque from First Great Western, but this may be partly due to the postal system collapsing around our ears.

The Insider has posted a very interesting explanation of the madness and complications of the fare system, so if this is your particular beef, go and visit him here. I tried to read it all, but began to lose the will to live about half way down, I'm so glad I'm not the one trying to sell the tickets, the system's a mess!

I'm beginning to feel a bit like a message board, so let me tell you a story instead.

I'm on a late shift again. Last time I worked a late shift on a Friday, there was a drunken businessman being sick next to the departure boards. Let's call him Mike. He wasn't in a good way, and a kind young drunken man was trying to help him get home. Let's call him Jim. Then a much less kind drunk person decided that Jim was patronising Mike, and tried to have a fight with Jim. So far, so typical of Friday nights on Paddington Station.

But then, amazingly, everyone joined in to look after Mike. Once he was on the train, the whole carriage decided he was their pet project for the way home. Despite the fact that he kept disappearing under the luggage rack to be sick, everyone was very nice to him, and made sure he got onto the platform safely at Reading. I'm afraid to say I don't know what happened to him after that, as I didn't really fancy taking him home in my car, what with him being sick everywhere every five minutes and all. The most intriguing thing about Mike was that he was carrying two umbrellas. Jim was very concerned that either he'd stolen the second umbrella, or, more worryingly, that it belonged to another extremely drunk businessman who he'd lost somewhere along the way.

There are two things I took away from that journey. The first is that drunken people aren't always annoying and stupid, though they usually are. That trip was fun, everyone was in a good mood, and the atmosphere was great.

The second is that I thank FGW from the bottom of my heart for the off-peak first class upgrade that will allow me to escape the worst of the pantomime tonight, as it's not usually anywhere near as fun as that.

Mark Thomas Hates First Great Western!

At least he does tomorrow. That's when my McDemo is due to take place in Parliament Square. For more on McDemos, see here.

Between 09.30 and 10.00am tomorrow, Mark Thomas will hate FGW on our behalf, and will send me a photograph to prove it.

Tragically, I can't be there because of work commitments, but if anyone happens to be down that way in the morning, please go and have a look, and make sure he's hating them as much as we would like him to.

No Way to Run a Railway

It's time for a call to arms. Forget what I said yesterday about being too lazy to protest. Another fare strike is on the cards, and this time we all get to join in. Our friends at www.moretrainlessstrain.co.uk are organising a day of action in September, called "No Way to Run a Railway Day" and they need people across the network to take part. Please go to their forum and register your name and location, so we can make this protest bigger and better than their last one, which was mainly Wiltshire-based. And, of course, I'll be trying to make sure everyone's got a badge to wear, so if you'd like some to give out either now or on the day, please contact me at IHateFGW@yahoo.co.uk and I'll get some sent out to you. Please help if you can - it's our chance to get ourselves noticed by FGW, so tell everyone you know, and try to get as many people as you can involved.

Too lazy to protest? No problem!

First Great Western are quite lucky in a way. They're lucky because, as a person, I'm not really the protesting kind. I'm happy to support someone else who's doing something laudable, but, for myself, I'm happy being one of life's spectators.

Which means that to start a blog like this, I must have been very very angry indeed.

But now, the blog is up and running, the badges are regularly being sent out into the world, and I ask myself, what next? I'm loath to spend my weekends going up to London to wave a placard or shout nasty things about the DfT and First Great Western. And, to be honest, it seems that no matter how much petitioning and protesting goes on, FGW are pretty much oblivious.

But, help is at hand! Billyo, a fellow blogger and regular visitor to the site has drawn my attention to the recent work of the wonderful comedian and political activist Mark Thomas. For a £5.00 fee, Mark and his colleagues will organise a protest at Westminster, wave a placard, shout a few slogans, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. They're doing this to draw attention to new legislation banning protests in the area without express police permission. You can make up any slogan you like, I've obviously chosen "I Hate First Great Western", and you'll receive a photograph of the demo to keep as a momento.

Go to http://www.mcdemos.com/ for more information.

I've requested one, and I'd like to appeal to any other visitors to this site to do the same - make up a different slogan if you like, but send me the resulting photographs for an IHateFGW photo gallery.

Bloggers of the world unite! Fight apathy! Pay someone else to do things for you!

FGW "a disgrace" and "appalling"

http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/news07.php

Boris Johnson has joined the MPs speaking out against First Great Western. And he did so in his own inimitable style, by testing the journey to London from his constituency in Henley-on-Thames for himself. Follow the link above to read the full story from the Henley Standard.

I also quote this morning's Metro, which has the following report:

"The worst train service in the South-East when it comes to reliability is First Great Western, according to a transport watchdog. Punctuality and reliability on FGW's major commuter routes out of Paddington and in the Thames Valley were described by London TravelWatch as appalling in its latest Performance Monitoring Report. It comes as FirstGroup, which runs FGW and First Capital Connect, is on course to make a profit of £91 million from its rail division. Brian Cooke, chairman of the watchdog, said: 'Although showing a slight upturn year-on-year, First Great Western's commuter lines are again at the bottom of the class.'"

I don't think I need to add anything to this. "I hate First Great Western" badge anyone?

Our MP joins the campaign

Reading West MP Martin Salter visited Pangbourne Station on Thursday morning to accept a petition from local campaigner Fiona Hope, who is lobbying for a return to the pre-December 2006 timetable. Well done to her for standing in the snow gathering signatures, and good luck to Martin Salter, who is writing to the FGW managing director Aliston Forster to push for more semi-fast trains to London. In the meantime, the badge poll continues, and I'm delighted to say that many of you are happy to join me in the hating zone. Does it help to know that First Group makes so much money, it's just bought Greyhound buses in America for, wait for it.... 1.9 billion pounds? And yet they're too tight to put an extra carriage on a few peak time trains? Go on, hate with me, it's really very cathartic.

Why hate?

Now, I realise that 'hate' is a strong word, and I have been cautioned that it might upset staff to see people wearing the soon-to-be-revealed 'I hate First Great Western' badges. But I don't think that I should tone down the message, and this is why. Firstly, I think FGW staff are well aware of how rubbish their services are, as evidenced by the drivers' messages to passengers when the train grinds to a halt. Example from this morning: "The train is now approaching Reading. If you'd like a faster service to London Paddington, please get off here and cross to Platform 5, where a fast train will whisk you straight there ... probably". They have a sense of humour, and a healthy disrespect for their employers, so I don't feel we're going to be hurting their feelings. Secondly, I would make sure that this is the case by having a leaflet to hand out, explaining that our wrath is firmly directed at the company, which is a company and therefore has no feelings, or perhaps those few at those at the top of the company, who are frankly paid enough to take a bit of stick from a few fed-up travellers. And, let's be honest, when you're standing wedged against your fellow commuters at the end of a hard day, because your usual service is cancelled, and the train then stops for 45 minutes en route, you don't feel slightly peeved, you feel furious, admit it. At that moment, I bet if you had an 'I hate First Great Western' badge, you'd wear it. Well, maybe soon you can.

The Commuter: a profile

The commuter is a hardy, long-suffering breed. Day after day, come sun or snow, we wait patiently on the platform. We do not laugh, we do not chat, we may not at first appear terribly friendly. We just wait. But this is not to say we are completely hard-hearted. We realise, for instance, that when the wind blows hard and the trees fall on the line, there will be delays. We realise that when it snows, there will be delays. And, even when there are the wrong kind of leaves on the line, we shrug our shoulders, mutter under our breaths, and continue to wait. But, since the timetables were changed in December, barely a day goes by when our trains are not delayed or cancelled. And the reasons are as varied as they are unhelpful: signals fail, engines break down and freight trains derail. Every day. The trains are late, overcrowded and dirty. And, how are we rewarded for our patience during these trying times? Fare rises. FARE RISES!! And now I just feel like they're making fools of us. Shouldn't we organise a protest of some kind? Any ideas gratefully received.